David Gladfelter writes:

Rutgers University Professor Emeritus Peter O. Wacker of Martinsville passed away on March 24, 2020 at the age of 83. Services were private. Condolences can be posted on the website of the Bruce C. VanArsdale Funeral Home, Somerville

The son of immigrants, Peter grew up in Irvington, graduated from Montclair State College, and earned his PhD from Louisiana State University. Generous with his time for students and the public, Peter thought it was important for people to understand not only world geography but also their own local geography, history and culture.Peter possessed a boundless curiosity about the world, most of which he had visited. He loved travel, fishing, gardening, and a good joke.

The dissertation he wrote became The Musconetcong Valley of New Jersey: A Historical Geography (Rutgers University Press, 1968). His Land and People: A Cultural Geography of Preindustrial New Jersey: Origins and Settlement Patterns (Rutgers University Press, 1975) is still cited by scholars for the insights it provides on how settlers origins influenced the way land was used, what crops were planted, fences and barns constructed. Land Use in Early New Jersey, with Paul Clemens, (New Jersey Historical Society, 1995) used framers diaries, and early account books, to chart and map what was produced and where.

Wacker worked with historian Maxine N. Lurie and Rutgers cartographer Michael Siegel to edit Mapping New Jersey: An Evolving Landscape (Rutgers University Press, 2009). The book used historic maps and newly designed ones to explain the changing history of the state. In addition he contributed chapters in books, such as the in Carol Hoffecker, ed. New Sweden (University of Delaware Press, 1995), as well as articles in New Jersey History and other journals. He also served on the editorial boards of New Jersey History, the Journal of Cultural Geography, and was a member of numerous academic organizations.

Wacker received a number of awards over the course of his career including a Guggenheim Fellowship, repeated research grants from the Rutgers Research Council and the New Jersey Historical Commission. He also was presented with the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance's College Teacher of the Year Award (2000), and the New Jersey Historical Commission's Richard J. Hughes Award (2001) the highest one it gives.

To read the complete obituary, see:
Peter O. Wacker(https://geography.rutgers.edu/people/in-memorium/details/835-peter-o-wacker)

To read JERSEYana on the Newman Portal, see:
JERSEYana(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/514335)